Well... It's that time again. It's time to shove all of our belongings into ziplock bags, buy so much bug repellent, and drive throughout the continental US hoping we don't get eaten by a bear.

This Sunday we head out on our annual cross-country trek that we lovingly (and annoyingly) refer to as The Capuano Family Tour de USA. The primary goal is to have so much wild, adventurous fun that our kids will look back on their childhood and realize that their parents were not just wise, loving, devoted and attractive people... But that they were also roaming wanderers who walked on the wild side by taking all their personal days at one time.

The secondary goal is to visit all of the continental United States within a few years. This will make our third trip, and should prove to be quite eventful. Here is how it all goes down: we will take our four kids (ages 2, 4, 6 and 8) tent camping for a little over 3 weeks. We give ourselves one hotel stay per week so we can shower, do laundry and re-stock our groceries. I pre-plan every meal and we cook over the fire or on our camp stove, except on the hotel night when we get to eat out! I make activity books for each kid that are action packed with destination-related material so that they learn something about each state. (Buuuut... I also throw in something ridiculous like "The Great Granny Tally of 2012" where they have to keep track of every granny they see throughout the trip.)

This year we will be doing a good portion of the Southeast. We are going to boil alive.

If heat stroke doesn't take us first, Tom is pretty sure that I am gonna get us yankees killed by challenging every confederate flag-totin' cowboy east of the Mississippi. I can't help it, I have a hard time overlooking blatant stupidity. Plus, I'm really scrappy. Tom is already planning to say a lot of "we don't want any trouble now... We'll just be on our way..."

So, other than maybe reigniting the civil war, this should be a really good time. We have some really fun things planned and unbelievably beautiful parts of the country to discover. We also have record high temperatures, wild fires, alligators and black bears to contend with. But, you know what they say... Animals are more afraid of us than we are of them. I wonder if that is also true of the guys wearing rebel flags on their belt buckles. I guess we'll find out in the coming posts...

What you can also expect from our blog this year is the return of the wildly popular feature called A.T.A.T.T. or All Tom All The Time. This was added in response to an outpouring of Tom's fans who wanted, nay, NEEDED more Tom related content, or Tomtent if you will.

We invite you to sit back and follow us on our journey. Make fun of us, pray for us, annnnd, maybe come find us if we aren't back by August 6th.